Rebel Son
by axleonex
Summary: Delsin travels to Brockton Bay, right in the aftermath of an Endbringer attack.
1. First Light

Chapter 1: First Light

"Here's the thing about heroism." Delsin spray painted through the holes of the cardboard cut out Eugene carried up for him. Eugene, a small pale kid that was sixteen, wore glasses and a grey hoodie that shadowed over the top half of his face. Delsin had on a red beanie hat with no mask, while Eugene wore a bandana to carry some resemblance of a standard cape. "All these PRT capes who do their best to be the 'beacon of hope', are normally just high class assholes who think they're better than the rest of us."

Delsin continued to spray paint with red dye. He grinned as he envisioned what was about to come out. "Before the Leviathan attack, these guys worked so hard for their PR bullshit to look nice in front of the camera. But fuck it, now that the city has gone to hell, we get to see the true faces of those high class heroes that have been used to sitting their asses on the sofa, and only pretending to be heroes for the fame and money."

"They saved people," Eugene mumbled. He didn't want to argue against the person he looked up to, but he wanted to at least give a another viewpoint.

"Yup," Delsin said happily. "And they do it for the glory. They do it for the fun. They do it for the money. And you know how I know this?"

Eugene shook his head. Delsin said, "because if they really did it for non-selfish reason, they'd let some of us homeless people crash at that nice air conditioned PRT base."

"It's more complicated than that." The girl who said that was Celia. She was the youngest girl in the group. African American, wearing a paper mache bunny mask that had ears extruding from its head. "People are paranoid, it wouldn't be easy to-"

"Whatever," Fetch said. Abigail, now going strictly by fetch, was a nineteen year old girl with blue eyes and purple dyed hair. She had bracelets reminiscent of her deceased brother, and used her powers to light a bright mark at the wall across from Delsin. "Like it matters. It's all bullshit, I don't care why. Everything's fucked, there's no point asking why."

"Amen to that," Delsin said. Delsin nodded for Eugene to pull down the cardboard box. Taking it away from the wall, they now had a complete spray paint stencil of a skeleton in a tuxedo with a broken television around his head. "Vuala," Delsin said with a smile. "True art."

"Meh," Fetch said. "Mine is better."

Fetch drew a giant, beaming archangel on her side of the wall. It's wings extended across the entire alleyway wall. It would stay bright for hours, and then disappear into a permanent mark of an angel outline.

"Why do you always do the opposite of what I make?" Delsin asked.

"Because," Celia said with a smile. "Ironies are the best."

A man encased in metal stepped into the opening of the alleyway. He stared across the four delinquents marking spots of his territory. "You're not welcomed here," Hookwolf said as a threat. "I have more pressing matters to attend to."

"Fortunately," Delsin said confidently, "we just finished marking out territory. So we're already on our ways home."

"Your territory?" Hookwolf scoffed as he walked closer to them. More metal extruded from his body, making his bodies clatter in metal. "This is E88 territory."

Celia said, "Last I checked, the E88 fell apart. You guys are a husk of what you all used to be. Which is exactly why unpowered people like me feel so safe in places like this." Hookwolf fell silent. Celia pointed to her own mask, "I wear this mask ironically."

Hookwolf looked over to Fetch. "We can offer you a spot in the E88. You can have power, allies, resources. Just abandon the nigger."

"Hey!" Eugene yelled clenching his fists, "don't-"

Celia placed a hand on Eugene's chest, warning him to not get mad on her behalf. Fetch waved her hand off, "oh how cute, Nazis trying to recruit junkies like me. And here you guys talk about supremacy bullshit and what-not."

Hookwolf's metal arms now extruded to giant scythes that were twice the size of his body. "Hey guys," Delsin said, "since I'm Native American, does the E88 hate me too?"

"I dunno," Celia said casually, "I'm guessing you're kind of neutral."

Rubbing salt to the wound, Eugene said, "knowing the E88, you'd probably be mistaken for another race they can stereotype."

"Woe is me," Delsin said smiling, "no clever stereotypes for me to joke about."

"Ironically, of course." Celia added.

"Enough!" Hookwolf yelled, "if the girl doesn't join, then she's an enemy of our the empire!"

"Sounds fine by me," Fetch lit up her arms. "I've been needing to stretch the legs, since I came to this city."

Her friends stepped back. No, they didn't step back, they ran away. They ran away as far as they could, because they knew Fetch loved to make a light show. Fetch's arms and eyes lit up the alleyway in an instance. Her first reaction was to shoot Hookwolf with all her might, but she wasn't going to play all her ticks all at once. Hookwolf wasn't blinded by the light, he already targeted the girl the moment he got close. He _rolled_ towards Fetch, in a swiveling rotation of metal blades that would've cut Fetch into pieces.

For a small moment, Fetch thought she was going to die. And barely managed to shift into her neon-fazed state to dodge Hookwolf's deadly pounce. Fetch grabbed onto the fire escape latter with an arm, and began shooting a turret of light bolts into Hookwolf's body.

They bounced off his body. Like a mirror reflecting light. _Shit fuck._ Fetch thought to herself. "Hey, big, ass, and ugly. Hold still for a minute so I can shoot you!"

Hookwolf leaped into the air at the fire escape floor above her. He used fast extruding metal to catapult himself into the air, clammering into the metal railing with a loud clinging noise that screeched into Fetch's ears. Hookwolf collapsed his metallic body below him, and caused his body to destroy three floors of fire escape to collapse onto where Fetch was hanging.

Fetch shifted again. _Okay, so this guy moves faster than the other capes I"ve fought._ She landed on the ground in time to watch the fire escape crush into pieces. Hookwolf raised up from the metal, and charged at fetch as though he wasn't harmed. His metal body slammed into her. She flew across the floor and onto the city streets like a train had just hit her. "Fuck!" She yelled. The pain was crushing, like her entire body had destroyed from the inside. Hookwolf closed the distance between them. He looked down at Fetch laying and hurdled on the ground, and he whispered, "for a girl with power, you're an amateur on how to use them."

"Amateur?" Fetch said with the weak grin, "maybe, baby. But didn't you know the oldest trick in the book, is to never show your tricks until the last second?"

Fetch looked over at the Neon lights that were just barely flickering from the wrecked nighclub from across the street. She reached out her hand and _pulled_ for the light source that the nighclub offered. It wasn't much. There was so little in this wrecked city. But it was enough to get her back on her feet. And enough to piss off Hookwolf at least once. She put all her energy into a single blast, and made sure to fire all her light into Hookwolf's face.

Hookwolf went flying. Not just flying, but _flying_ to the building rooftop in front of them. Literally, twelve fucking floors. Fetch was impressed with herself. She quickly stepped back on her feet and ran off, knowing Hookwolf couldn't die that easily.

 _Brockton Bay,_ Fetch smiled to herself, _lovely city, but not enough lights._


	2. Second SOn

Chapter 2: Second Son

"Now this is my kind of party."

Delsin basked at the noise of the music around him. People were dancing, smoking, fucking. No one gave a shit. He liked the atmosphere, no worries even though the world was ending around them. He needed this. He just wanted to an escape, even if it wasn't right.

"Christ," Eugene said as the voice of reason. "This place is horrible."

"Yup," Delsin said walking forward, "this place is a fuck fest, and not in a good way. But it's still the only place I can build up my stash."

The mass of bodies at the shopping center never parted even as Eugene and Delsin pushed through the people. Eugene was feeling nauseous. Not only was the rancid smells and dirty sweat nauseating, the sounds of people _screaming_ in the backgrounds of his ears made him feel morbid as time passed by. He didn't belong there, he was so out of place. How the heck was Delsin alright with this place?

Eugene looked over to his side. A women's clothes shop had it's window shattered, with three women inside dancing provocatively for a group of Merchant men. He paid special attention to the teenager, wearing the red wrist band that symbolized that she was there against her own will.

Eugene stopped in place. Delsin said, "Come on, they've got a gold mine of mary's on the other side from here." Eugene swallowed. He looked over to the store. The entertainment value for those women wouldn't have lasted forever, she would have inevitably fallen victim to whatever the Merchants had planned for her. Delsin looked over to the store. "You're kidding me, right?"

Eugene shook his head slowly. Delsin scrunched his lips. "Nope. Save her yourself."

Eugene's eyes widened, "but…"

"No goddamnit. I've been carrying your ass since the moment we got into this city. If you wanna be hero, then be a damn hero. But don't point at people for me to save like I'm some sort of lap dog."

Eugene breathed heavily _, I've never used my powers to fight…_ "I don't know how," he admitted.

"Then learn how," Delsin said in a cold voice, "because it's high time you learn to man the fuck up and use your powers the way you want."

Eugene looked over at the girl wearing hastily placed makeup. For christ's sake, she was his age. No kid should have to go through that. "I can't…."

"Then don't be a hero, kiddo."

It was such a slap in the face. Delsin knew Eugene wanted to be a hero more than anything. And Delsin definitely played hero when he needed to be, but he didn't have the same values Eugene believed in. For Delsin, attempting to save everyone was self-destructive. There were too many people that needed saving.

But for Eugene, he needed to at least try. To at least try to help everyone within arm's length. "How?" Eugene asked.

"You seriously want my advice? You know what I'd do if I wanted to save someone."

Eugene couldn't help but smile. _Light shows are the best shows._ Eugene looked over to the girl, and stared around at the mall. "Damnit Delsin, I need video feeds. I can go to the radio shack and get footage running, but I don't want to abandon that girl."

Delsin smiled, "and this is where the glory of teammates come. You get that footage running and get ready to come in with an explosion. I'll stay here and make sure things don't crash and burn until after your ready."

Eugene nodded with a smile, and ran off. Delsin looked over at the girl. She looked petrified. Dancing out of fear for what the Merchant crowd would do to her. It disgusted him. But he couldn't let Eugene know that.

No, he needed to pretend to be cold. Pretend to be unfazed by what was happening in the city. Because the moment he showed weakness, it was the moment the world could finally get to him. Delsin walked closer to the store.

He turned to the Merchant crowd and said, "alright, parties over, get the hell out of here."

The crowd yelled over the sound of trashy music, and reached to grab Delsin by the arm. "Nope," he said calmly.

He slammed a hand into the ground, like he were smashing a tennis ball to the ground. A ball of smoke lit up around him, and the Merchant members began gasping for breathe. "Relax," Delsin said, "if you guys smoke, you all were gonna get cancer anyway."

The merchant members began exasperating for breathe, falling to the ground fainting. He looked to the three girls at the store. Delsin said to the teenager, "my friend will be here with a ride soon, stick around if you're not afraid of heights. Or if you've got a safer way to leave, be my guest."

"Fuck," one of the older girls yelled, "cape! Cape!"

The coughing merchant crowd that collapsed around him was now given space from a parting crowd. They all stared at Delsin in dismay as he kept his hands in his pockets with a calm gaze.

"What the bloody hell?"

Skidmark emerged from the watching crowd. Even though Skidmark had a whole team behind his back, Delsin was the one that looked more powerful. While Skidmark's team consisted of shit knitted costumes that made them pass off as trashy losers, Delsin wore an almost clean denim jacket and jeans, with a display of confidence from standing at the center of disoriented bodies around him.

"I've got a problem with crowds," Delsin said casually. "I get a little claustrophobic sometimes."

"You here to crash my fucking party," Skidmarked walked closer to him. Far too close for his personal space.

"Nah man," Delsin said smoothly, "I'm trying to join the Merchants!"

He wanted to get heard. He wished the music would turn down, but he had to settle for letting the immediate crowd know what he was saying. "Joining the Merchants?" Skidmarked grinned with a raised eyebrow. "What's your name, scrumpkin?"

"Smoker," Delsin answered.

"Ah, like the jay's?"

"You know it."

Skidmark put an arm over Delsin's shoulder, "wait'll the crowd gets the chance to meet you. C'mon, they're gonna love seeing you before the main event happens tonight."

"Main event?"

XXX

"You piss-licking losers know what the red armband means! Bloodshed! Violence! We've got ourselves a free for all brawl!"

Delsin watched from the platform as the swathes of people pushed people into the center of the arena.

"Last five standing in the ring get a prize! No rules! I don't give a shitstained fuck if you jump in at the last second or if you use a weapon! Anything goes!"

"What's the prize?" Delsin asked Mush.

"Just listen," he said all serous.

Skidmark held a steel canister over his hands, "Superpowers in a can!"

Delsin bent over bursted out laughing. "Are you guys fucking serious? Christ, this city is insane."

Delsin stared over to the radioshack he could see from his height. Eugene was giving him the thumbs up as tv screens lit up.

"Hey Skidmark," Delsin stepped on the platform ledge, "I quit."

"What? Already?"

Delsin coiled his body and jumped into the air. Smoke escaped from his feet, causing the Merchant members to enter a coughing fit together. He landed himself right at the center of the arena, in the masse of Merchant lunatics that were ready to kill each other.

The impact at the ground smacked smoke in the faces of all the thugs that were closest to him. They were pushed away with smog filling their faces. "Kill," Skidmark yelled in a coughing fit, "kill that squishy bitch! Whoever kills that trash gets all the cans!"

Delsin clapped his hands, "Last one standing gets the cans, right?" Delsin shouted. "Fine by me."

"You're dead Smoker, you're dead!" Skidmark shouted.

On queue, the people in the arena pounced at Delsin, like his display of power didn't even faze them. Delsin shifted into his smoke form and filled the lungs of the three people closest to him. Once his smoker state ran out of time, he landed on his feet and punched the large man that unfortunately stood in front of him.

Delsin was strong, mostly due to constant conditioning, but he couldn't win in fist fights like a professional expert. He relied on the chains wrapped around his hands. He tossed the chains at the people around him. His power caused the metal to shift into half smoke, causing an explosion of smog whenever it hit someone.

He spun and threw, hitting more runners in the hips and heads. None of them would get permanent damage from his chain. For some odd reason, his power knew when to hold back. Like he only wanted to knock out people, so it stayed in a state that would only knock out people.

Delsin wasn't a murderer. Sure, he'd killed pimps and drug dealers before, but it was never something he intentionally strived for. He held back as needed, mostly for the sake of not losing his humanity.

The people he punched, shot at, and bashed at with his chains, they were nobodies. People neither worth saving nor killing. Sure, he was certain more than half of them were shit heads, but he wasn't going to go on a killing spree based on an assumption.

As Skidmark's crew began changing the arena to Delsin's disadvantage, Delsin decided it was time to end this. He coiled down his body and counted up with a smile on his face.

One. Smoke gathered around him. He felt a charge dwell up inside of him. Two. Cigarettes quickly burnt out. Fires that were giving warmth went dim. Smoke swallowed into Delsin like a heavy wind swallowing into a vortex. _God, that's so habit forming_. Three. His body heated up. His temperature became deadly and his heart and body become inexplicably intangible. Four. His feet leaped. Five. Fuck yes.

His feet fired into the air like shuttle launch. Felt heat escaped around him as he transformed into balls of fire to launched into the air. The opening in the mall ceiling gave him perfect distance to escape and build up momentum. He rose out of the building, and reached the climax of his height miles into the air. His body returned to normal, giving him the heavy connection resulting of the withered away effects of his power.

One second frozen in time. He stared up while lying back. Stars could be seen. No lights blocked out the natural lights. Around him, Brockton Bay was in shambles. A broken city with not enough heroes. In one second, the air was cool. The coldness across his face. There was no noise, only the sound of hissing cold tugging across his ears.

He liked this. It was one small second of freedom, right before the crash.

Delsin fire launched himself back onto the earth. With a heat so powerful he was nearly intangible. He fell down like a meteorite, crashing into the ground with an explosion of smoke around him.

The blast covered the interior building with soot. Smoke flung across the crowds of people, both in the arena and into the walls behind Skidmark's team. They were all in a coughing fit, with everyone his power registered as an enemy, too disoriented to attack.

Delsin returned to his natural form, standing above the masse of knocked out people in victory. Again, he looked more powerful than all of Skidmark's team. He pointed up to Skidmark, "my cans, man."

"Fuck," Skidmark coughed so much it seemed like he was dying of his cigarette addiction. "Now you're asking for it! Trainwrck, Mush, go!"

Trainwreck jumped into the arena in front of Delsin. He entered the arena in a thrash, making the concrete floor break with the impact of his power suit. Mush and Whirlygig followed. Mush carried Whirlygig behind Trainwreck while Whirlygig brewed a wind across the arena.

As more dust, paper, and garbage particles collected across the winds, Mush's form grew bigger and bigger. His changer state turned him into a flesh mess of arteries and organs. His body's muscles had thick layers pulsing of them, tissue layers grappled with growing tendrils. Whirlygig stayed back, growing her teammate into something twice the size of Trainwreck.

"Okay," Delsin said stretching his neck. "Haven't fought something as big as you guys since Concrete Queen. It'll be nice reliving old memories."

Mush pounded his feet towards Delsin. Out of instinct, he fired a wall of smoke into Mush's face. The smoke covered him in soot, and to Delsin's surprise, it made him bigger.

 _Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck_.

Delsin shifted a distance away from him. He rematerialized behind one of the building pillars. Before he could get a moment to breathe, Trainwreck smashed the pillar and collapsed some of the ceiling over Delsin's head.

Rubble crushed over him. Delsin limped out of the wreckage that should've been fatal to him. _Gotta love that healing factor._ Mush's goblin like head stared down at him as he crawled. "Oh shit."

"Kill him!" A girl screeched from above. Around the arena, victims of Delsin's orbital blast were beginning to rise. "Kill him!" More of them said, "rip his dick off!"

Delsin tossed dirt into Mush's eyes. It did make him flinch for a minute, but the dust quickly made Mush's head form into an irregularly shaped object. Delsin rolled over. With his damaged legs, with one possibly broken, he pushed through the shattering pain and headed to a nearby exhaust pipe for power.

Trainwreck had to stop him. Trainwreck smashed his metallic body onto Delsin's side, and caused him to fling into smoldering trash can. _Smoldering_. There was a light fire inside the trash bin. It wasn't enough for power, but it was enough to heal _._

Delsin smoked the garbage like a cigarette. Delsin immediately ran to the edges of the arena. He grabbed a pack of cigarettes and lit them all on fire. It wasn't enough for power, but it was enough to make more power.

Mush lunged at him, smiling as the crowd cheered for his victory. The Merchant loyalists were still in coughing fits, but they threw heavy garbage at the both of them in support of Mush. "Die!" A woman yelled, throwing a brick towards Delsin. "Get fucked!" another kid yelled throwing a rock at him.

The smoke in his hand wasn't enough to start a fire, not with Whirlygig smoldering trash towards Mush. More debris amassed into Mush while Delsin was hit but some of the smaller pieces of trash. "Eugene!" Delsin yelled, "I could use some help here!"

Trainwreck threw a large concrete block at Delsin, reminiscent of the Concrete Queen. He narrowly ducked for cover as the stone broke the rail he had stood next to.

"Shit, Eugene, don't flake on me now!"

The crowds grew louder, any chance for him to start a fire was going away. Triainwreck's tinker suit and Mush's negating power were impossible for him to match. His orbital drop had taken too much out of him, and his limited reserves couldn't move him passed the crowds that wanted to tear him apart.

Before Delsin could call out Eugene's name one last time, a shimmering light converged above the center of the arena. The light temporarily blinded the crowd before it formed into a metallic creature with wings. "Behold!" The twenty foot metal knight with glowing digitized wings said. It's stereo voice gave a static sound which echoed over the entire shopping center. "For I have come!"

The crowd's sounds fell into a low morbid silence. The flying knight with a glowing helmet gave them all an unholy stare. It raised its shining sword over the crowd and spoke like a God. "Now prepare to feel the wrath of Heaven's Fire!"

Delsin couldn't help but fall back and smile. "Oh man, you guys are gonna hate this."


	3. He Who Dwells

Chapter 3: He Who Dwells

The archangels surrounded Skidmark's allies at the platform. They charged they lights of aura in front of them, meant to give a sense of urgency to the villains. "Fools," He Who Dwells yelled, "cower beneath me you miniscule mortals!"

The Merchant members at the mall's floors were fleeing in terror. Ghouls floated over them, firing baseball sized orbs of fire at the crowds. Small fires started up. Everyone scattered away screaming for help.

The balls of fires were as dangerous as cigarette butts. But anyone high couldn't tell that. Delsin took the liberty to swallow the fires Eugene started, and help prevent any deaths from Eugene's chain of destruction.

Eugene's power was almost omnipotent. It was agreed that he was the strongest member in the posse. Unfortunately, Eugene's personality stopped him from fighting at full power. He minimized risks. The last time he and the rest of the team fought at full power, the Space Needle in Seattle tore down. That wasn't a mistake they were willing to repeat again.

Whenever Eugene did fight, it was either from the distance or with a massive layer of armor over him. Eugene really was a strategist. Opting to fight with minions at his side to manipulate and control the field like a massive chess game.

Fireballs heaved across the air while the ghouls made deplorable hissing noises over the crowds. Unfortunately, some of the Merchant members were too high to properly run away, causing some of their clothes to catch on fire. This is where Delsin stepped in. He played firefighter while Eugene terrorized the crowds away.

"Man," Delsin said, "I know these guys are stupid, but they could at least stop drop and roll."

Hundreds of Merchants cleared the mall's center. Winged demons and morbid ghouls screamed at them, making drug hallucinations and reality indistinguishable. A handful of glowing demons rose up from the fires for added effect, morbidly walking over to anyone who remained to get the message, _get the fuck out of here_.

He Who Dwells addressed the Merchants. "Insolent peasants, you're injustices require repentance!"

"Insolent fools!" The giant archangel howled, "your injustices require retribution!"

"This faggot is right out of the comic books, aye?" Skidmark said.

Eugene mumbled silently to himself, _I thought I was being cool_... He then echoed out across the building. "You dare insult my omnipotence? Then face Heaven's wrath!"

The surrounding angels fired bright white beams at Skidmark's members. Three of them were thrown off the platform, coming to a bone crushing impact on the floor beneath them. The other four members tried to run, but Delsin smoked himself in front of them.

"I think you owe me my arena prize," Delsin said, coming off as more smooth than Skidmark ever could.

"Give him his boon," He Who Dwell demanded, "or your souls will be crushed under the might of a thousand suns!"

Skidmark swallowed. He was humiliated in every way, he couldn't believe how easily he was defeated by two capes. Before he could say anything, the mall around them changed shape.

Newter dove from a newly formed stairway from the rooftop, he walked over to Delsin and Skidmark. "Those aren't actually yours," Newter said, "so we'll be taking them from here."

Faultine, Gregor the Snail, and Shamrock followed behind him. Before Newter could walk over to Skidmark, Delsin quickly smoke shifted between them, and placed his hands in front of Newter. "Wow, I wasn't so sure the whole powers in a can was actually true. But if you guys want them too, then it must be the real deal. So no way in hell are we letting you walk away with them."

Without hesitation, Newter tapped at Delsin's cheek like he was a puppy. Delsin fell to the ground as Faultline stepped in front of Skidmark, "those canisters, they're ours."

"Delsin!" Eugene squealed, "I mean, um…"

His voice came out in a low roar again, "you dare bring insult to my allies? Prepare to face the wrath of Hellfire's fury!"

The angels fired at Faultiness crew. They formed a wall of lasers between Skidmark and Faultline's allies. Three wingless demons projected within that space, giving the illusion that Eugene's angels had created demons.

"Damn," Newter said, "this guy doesn't screw around."

"The Nine circles of hell show mercy to no one!"

The demons slowly walked towards Faultline's crew. Their psychological effect was only amplified by Labyrinth's altering of the world around them. The Cathedral gave the impression that Labyrinth's world was now Eugene's world. That the demons and the world around them, was all to his liking.

Skidmark's allies took the opportunity to flee. Eugene didn't feel merciful. "Cowards!" He Who Dwells yelled. "You Dare bring Chaos to my Domain, and flee at my presence? Perish like the other souls that have perished beneath me!"

This time, Eugene opted to use the full power of his avatar. He Who Dwells fired balls of light into the air. The balls of lights dispersed into daggers, and exploded into balls of light when it fell into Skidmark's crew. When the members fell into the ground, the swords lodged themselves in 'x' positions, cementing the villains into the ground like fallen soldiers at Eugene's mercy.

An angel minion picked up Skidmark's briefcase, while another minion picked up Delsin's unconscious body. "Ah man," Delsin mumbled, "this is an awesome triiiip…."

 _Let's get out of here,_ Eugene thought to himself. While the angel minion managed to carry Delsin away, Gregor the Snail launched a stream of acid at the minion carrying the briefcase.

A large part of Eugene wanted to leave the case behind. It fell to the ground. He wanted nothing to do with it. But he knew it meant a lot to Delsin, and that was enough for him to fight for it. Eugene summoned more demons to walk to the briefcase. But before any of them could touch it, a maze blocked all of their paths.

 _Damnit_ , Eugene thought to himself, _my other weakness_. Eugene's monsters were largely stupid. They had low level intelligence like in a video game, and it was exhausting to get them to do exactly what he wanted. Small spaces were especially hard, because them running into walls by mistake was common.

Gregor the Snail presented his first weakness. His projects dissipated from anything liquid. Gregor launched his sprays to all his minions in the air, causing them to fall apart easily.

Eugene knew what he needed to do, but it was still terrifying to him. Eugene abandoned his largest avatar to the ground, and dropped to the ground beneath him. Coming out from the 'He Who Dwells' feet, Eugene navigated through the maze through his memory.

Eugene summoned more demons behind and around him. The demons provided a level of peace to mind as they methodically marched through Labyrinths maze. The cathedral around him was becoming more and more aesthetic, mixed with holy art and lit torches like the building had been maintained for years. The floorboards turned into an incredible display mythos and religion, with Eugene's creatures obstructing between what was reality and fiction.

It reminded Eugene of his favorite game. In an odd way, it made him feel comfortable.

Eugene found the briefcase, just as Newter was reaching down to grab it. Newter looked up at Eugene, "wait, you're the one making those monster? You look like a nerd."

"Screw you lizard man!" Eugene stepped into a fighting position. He formed a large glowing sword projection in his hand. "Those cans are mine!"

Eugene was surprised by his own bravery. He ran up to Newter but the cape quickly sprinted several feet away from him. Eugene surprised him by sprouting glowing angel wings from his own back. Quickly closing the distance between them both, Eugene swung his blade at Newter's body.

It exploded into a flashing bomb and knocked out Newter immediately. He dropped the briefcase. Eugene proudly walked over to the briefcase and picked it up over his head in triumph.

"You are not worthy!" Eugeen's 'He Who Dwells' avatar roared, "You have all felt the wrath of He Who Dwell!"

A floor above him, Faultine noticed more demons pouring out from the radio shack. "Gregor!" She pointed to the video store.

He Who Dwells flew in between Gregor and the store. Although a telekinetic shield held up for a few minutes , it wasn't long before Gregor's acid managed to decimate Eugene's avatar into nothing.

A door opened up through the maze next to Eugene, Shamrock appeared with a shotgun at hand. She fired at him and it just narrowly missed firing a bullet through his hands _. Oh crap,_ Eugene thought to himself, _she could've killed me!_ The briefcase was knocked away from him.

It was now obvious he was outmatched. Five versus one, with two playing on his weaknesses, he needed an escape plan. Unsure what Shamrock's power was, Eugene opted to use what power was left from him before Gregor could melt down his video store.

The television screens yelled, "judgement is upon us! Embrace yourselves, for Rapture!

One hundred demons and angels escaped through the television screens, causing the TVs to short circuit into explosions. They were mindless. They escaped through the video store windows and crashed into everything in front of them. Faultline, Newter, Gregor, and almost Shamrock, were all flung back by a slamming video projecting hitting them and exploding upon impact. Once all one hundred of his minions were dispersed, the mall fell quiet.

 _The briefcase_ , Eugene thought. He reached for it, and Shamrock put a shotgun barrel to his head. "Don't." She said.

Eugene swallowed. "Um… Okay."

Eugene backed away slowly, letting her know he was giving up. But before she could grab the case, paper tornadoed around her body. The White Rabbit appeared between Eugene and Shamrock. She wore a schoolgirl uniform like from a catholic school, and she wore and origami mask that mimicked a polygon paneled rabbit.

"Come on, Eugene," Celia said to him.

"The briefcase, Delsin wants it."

Celia looked over at the briefcase. Shamrock was falling back from the papers that were pulling her away from them. Paper alone was weak, but Celia could fold paper upon paper until it was heavy as blocks of cement.

Celia picked up the briefcase, and then wrapped an arm over Eugene's shoulders. Paper surrounded the mall, or the Cathedral that Labyrinth created. She used it for cover as the two friends hid amongst the mass of paper to make their escape.


	4. Paper Trail

Chapter 4: Paper Trail

Paper as heavy as rocks, or paper as thin as knives. The White Rabbit skidded her power across the air, slamming Oni Lee's clone before it exploded. The White Rabbit rematerialized to the dusted remains. She looked around the area, searching for the distinct demonic mask that was terrorizing the area.

Oni Lee teleported to the White Rabbit's side. He jabbed his knife into her stomach. She exploded into scraps of paper, and those scraps rematerialized behind Oni Lee. Her arm remained in the form of a paper mache shape of a scythe. She cut it across Oni Lee's head. He was decapitated, and then exploded into dust again.

Oni Lee sprinted within the next building over. He looked for another angle to kill the girl from. He had come unprepared. No weapons except for the two knives he carried with him at all times.

The White Rabbit spotted Oni Lee at the other building. Her body unraveled into pure paper, and formed a paper trail straight to where Oni Lee stood. She rematerialized in the building hall where Oni Lee stood. She made sure to rematerialize while releasing an explosion of paper all around her, letting her take complete control of the battle field around them.

Oni Lee stepped back. Before he could work to make his escape, The White Rabbit took the liberty to float paper on all the surfaces of the walls. He backpack bursted out in piles of paper. The sheets covered every inch of the corridor. Cracked openings from the walls were covered. The sunlight that was beaming within the room was now dimly covered through the transparency of the papers.

The White Rabbit stood tall in the middle of the skimmed lights. It was just enough to give Oni Lee the perfect image of his opponent. Sun rays lightly pierced through the paper which gave a light image of her the olive skinned legs beneath her school skirt. She looked to be of high school age, wearing a classic uniform like from a private school. Her rabbit origami mask only revealed features below the nose of her face. It hid the japanese features from her mother's side of her family.

 _"And so the Oni, becomes the nezumi."_ The White Rabbit said in perfect Japanese.

Oni Lee took a step back. He didn't expect her to be fluent in Japanese. _"You are no Maneki,"_ Oni Lee replied in his native tongue. The girl had implied he was prey, which also implied that she was the hunter.

 _"I am no hunter. The irony today, is that you are the hunter, and I am the Buddha."_

It was another insult. She called herself of higher status, while calling him vastly inferior in comparison. Oni Lee teleported three times, inching closer to her in seemingly many numbers.

Oni Lee reached to her side. He slashed at her neck. Instead of blood coming out, paper scraps fired at Oni Lee's face. His eyes were covered, and the White Rabbit jabbed a paper sphere into his stomach.

He dissipated somewhere else again, still within the paper covered room. It was only a theory, but The White Rabbit guessed Oni Lee could only teleport within a line of sight. Without the ability to see outside, Oni Lee had no other option but to fight.

Oni Lee looked over to a corridor window. He slashed at the paper, but more paper quickly filled up the window. The dim light now became pitch darkness as enough paper was layered over itself to make the surfaces as thick as ceramic wall.

 _How could a girl in a school uniform, be so intimidating?_ The papers layered over the openings again, causing the room to fall into complete darkness.

Oni Lee teleported in front of himself a dozen times. Exhausting his cloning immensely to try and slash at the girl within the darkness. They were both blind. Oni Lee felt himself cut her a few times, but he also felt the impact of paper stacks as heavy as rocks hitting at his chest.

It was hopeless. They were both a stalemate. His cloning and her shaper powers made them both untouchable. When he had ambushed her, he thought she would be easy prey. Now he wasn't so sure. First Lung was captured, then Bakuda failed miserably, the ABB was falling apart under his command. And now Oni Lee was at the mercy of vicious teenage high schooler.

But by a stroke of luck, Oni Lee saw a slight crack in the floorboards beneath them. He teleported to the bottom floor, giving him more leverage to teleport away. The White Rabbit was unfazed. She paper trailed herself again through the crack, and chased after Oni Lee with a hurricane of paper following behind her. _She won't concede._ Oni Lee realized. _She's relentless._

He wanted to take the time to respect her, but not while running for his life. Oni Lee teleported miles and miles away. The White Rabbit followed him as a vicious force of nature. The ambush had now become flee for survival.

Oni Lee finally reached at what was left of ABB territory. He stopped at the rooftop, and turned to face the White Rabbit. She stopped to face him. _"I concede."_ Oni Lee said. _"If this is truly my last fight, I'd like to die with my heirloom sword in my hand. Allow me to retrieve it, and I'll face you again here."_

The White Rabbit fell quiet. _"No."_ She said believing it was a trap.

He had to ask. _"Who are you, and where did you learn to duel?"_

 _"Some are born to kill. I was raised to kill."_

 _"I child assassin."_ Oni Lee chuckled to himself, _"I was the fool to challenge you."_

 _"Not ironic."_ The White Rabbit commented. _"It's how all assassin's end."_

Oni Lee smiled, understanding her more than anyone else. _"I'd like to make another request then. If I die, carry my sword. It can be found at the last warehouse west from here, it's yours to have if you kill me."_

The White Rabbit nodded. Oni Lee charged at her. The girl's hands morphed into paper daggers. She stabbed at Oni Lee and he teleported away. This time, The White Rabbit saw where Oni Lee landed, and rose up the paper that was lying around his feet. It cut at his rib cage, harming him before he could teleport.

Disoriented by the exposed bone, Oni Lee teleported again. Blood fell to the pieces of paper that were unluckily sitting where he teleported to. The White Rabbit used the same trick to raise the paper to his head. They slashed at his neck. Oni Lee teleported one last time next to the White Rabbit. He collapsed next to her, signalling her victory.

Celia took off her mask, and looked at the bleeding Oni Lee. She sighed, "two of a kind, the same yet different. Where's the poetry in this?"

There was a sound of applause from the distance. It came from the building top next to her. A slender man smiling up at her from what she'd just down. "My, that was entertaining."

Celia looked over to him. She paper trailed herself near him, and stared at him when she rematerialized. "Jack Slash."

She knew she was supposed to be afraid. She didn't believe she could defeat him, but death was something warm to her.

"Why didn't you let him escape?" Jack asked her. "He knew he was going to die, and practically surrendered to you. But you killed him anyway. Why?"

Celia raised a spiral of paper around herself. Before she could launch it at the other psychopath, Jack interrupted her. "Please don't bother trying, you'll regret it. And I'd much rather we chat before we do finally fight each other. It adds spice to character, really. I'd rather get to know the person I'm fighting before they die. You can't tell me you don't feel the same way. Wouldn't you want to know a little about someone before they're killed?"

In an odd way, he'd just made her feel guilty. Oni Lee was the same as her, yet she didn't even follow through his request. "He attacked me first. I didn't owe him mercy."

"He conceded, yet you finished him off anyway. How cruel. Any other reason than that?"

 _Because he was a menace,_ she wanted to say.

"Don't lie to me," Jack said. "You have no reason to lie to me, I'm probably the last person in this world that understands you."

It was true. She said, "I wanted to turn the tables on him."

"Reversing the game against regular people's likings, correct? It is fun to be the unexpected non-damsel in distress. I'm guessing that's why you wear the uniform, to come off as un-intimidating, to surprise your opponents in a symbolic way?"

Celia nodded, glad that someone figured out why she picked out her uniform. "And the mask," Celia added, "it makes me feel helpless, even though I'm not."

"Look at us," Jack Slash added, "opposites, hypocrites, oxymorons of what the world expects. It sure is nice to blow against the roaring river of the world, isn't it."

"Living contradictions." Celia said. "Everyone is like that, I like taking that an extra step."

"I have a riddle for you then. What happens when the unstoppable force reaches an unbreakable shield? Do they cancel each other out? What happens when there are only two psychopaths left in the world? Do they become friends, or do they cancel each other out?"

Celia's hand formed into a scythe.

"Oh relax," Jack Slash said waving his knife in her direction. "There's nothing creative about fighting right now. Nothing interesting, nothing unique if two psychopaths fight to the death for no reason other than to fight to the death. There would be no irony."

Celia thought about Oni Lee again. _Was there any irony to our fight? It was just two plain assassins fighting to kill each other. Was there anything symbolic? Anything deeper? Nothing interesting happened._

Jack continued. "If we fought now it would be meaningless. So, I suggest we wait. Let there be some buildup. Play a little. So that there can be layers to the last fight. Higher stakes. More personal. More fun. You can't tell me you don't like having fun in your kills."

Jack Slash walked away while waving back at her. "Welcome to the initiation games." For some reason, Celia suddenly felt excited for the future.


	5. Karma

"The Travelers and Undersiders stay."

The capes stared over at Delsin. He leaned back on his chair as confident as ever. His friends were behind him, stoic to assert his leadership. Although Delsin had no reason to believe he had any authority over these people, he liked to pretend he did.

"And why," Hookwolf said, leaning toward Delsin's direction, "should we listen to you?"

"Why the hell should we listen to you?" Delsin stood up, and walked closer to Hookwolf's face. "You called my friend a nigger, you go out of your way to fuck with tanned people, and that was way before the Leviathan attack. Now you want us to kick out other gangs just so you can trample over their territory in the meantime? Why the fuck should anyone in this room, trade them for you guys?"

"It is a one-sided deal," White Rabbit commented. "You complain that their teams are taking advantage of the S9's presence, should we really have faith that you won't do the same once these teams are out of the picture?"

Coil did an about face, "they have a point. Perhaps it would be better if we took Miss Militia's offer."

Hookwolf didn't waver, he didn't show any signs of distress from being tangled by his own logic. "And why… Should we listen to a guy that has a kill order on his head?"

All the capes turned to Delsin. "That motherfucker has kill order?" Skidmark shouted, "oh fuck yes. I could use payday after they killed three of my guys."

"The kill order expired." Tattletale elaborated. "The kill order was passed by a PRT head who was arrested for severe corruption and extortion charges. If I recall, these four were the ones that exposed her, and I'm pretty sure her kill orders need to be rescinded now that she's been exposed."

"The Concrete Queen," Weld said. "She was head of the PRT, and head of the Elite in Los Angeles. Playing all sides for her own gain. The investigation is still ongoing, but her kill orders are all being reviewed."

Hookwolf glared at Delsin, "you're the reason your tribe is dead."

Delsin held still. Hookwolf hissed in a low tone, "the landslide that wiped out the homes of all of your people… That was your fault, and you should've died with the rest of them."

Delsin looked over to the ground, remembering seeing his hometown completely enveloped in the mudslide. Hundreds of people died over night, all because the Concrete Queen wanted to send a message to him. Delsin glanced at the side, and without meeting Hookwolf's eyes, Delsin punched him across the face.

Before the other capes could intervene, Hookwolf raised an arm while rubbing his cheek. "No, this one's mine. Just you and me. If I win, the Undersiders, Travelers, and your team leave. If you win, they stay."

"Fine by me," Delsin said with a grin.

Delsin let Hookwolf take a few steps back. As he encased his body in an armor of knives, the other capes walked back to watch Hookwolf prepare. In the meantime, Delsin collected smoke and dust from across the building, even starting small fires floors beneath him to act as power reserves.

"You never answered my question," Delsin said, ready to fuck with him. "Are Native Americans part of your hate list too?"

"Why would they be, you're people are as good as dead."

Delsin shook his head, "I'm going to enjoy this so much more than I should."

Delsin's body dissipated into smoke. A cloud of black smog spread and twirled into the air as he flung across the rooftop. Hookwolf held still as he waited. He wasn't stupid. He'd heard what Delsin did at the Merchant's festival, he wasn't going to attack a cloud of smoke.

Delsin's smog smashed at Hookwolf's face. Although his body was encased in knives, his lungs were vulnerable to his cancer. Hookwolf choked and flailed, and Delsin returned to his normal state behind him.

Delsin took advantage of the moment and fired balls of heating smoke at his body. As predicted, the fire couldn't pierce through his knives. But the smoke did manage to blind the area around him.

After a dozen fireballs were shot in his direction, Hookwolf held his breathe. In a single fast motion, Hookwolf leaped onto Delsin and nearly slashed his scythe arms into Delsin.

The capes watched. "Smoke manipulation," Skitter said to her teammates. "He can rub specks of smoke to create heat."

Delsin deformed into smoke again, letting the slashes pass through his cloud. Faultline commented, "Since they can't hurt each other, Hookwolf will choke to death unless he figures out a way to hit him."

Delsin jumped back into his normal state and made it his mission to fire at Hookwolf's body. His metal made him impervious to Delsin's attacks, but choking him quickly became his sole mission. Hookwolf took long breaths the moment he was out of the smoke clouds. Making sure not to breathe whenever he was in the middle of Delsin's attacks.

More metal expanded out from Hookwolf's body. Knives were making him larger, turning him into the shape of a heavy ten foot wolf. Delsin's attacks became heavier and larger, he was visibly out of breathe.

Delsin smashed his fist at the ground, and rose fireballs from beneath them. The floor beneath their feet collapsed, and the two opponents tumbled towards the floor below. Delsin sucked up the smoke and fire from the floor, and smashed his fists at the ground again.

They fell two floors lower this time, and then again, and then again. Delsin successfully created holes above them until they were eight feet below where the meeting took place. Water was filling the floor they were on.

Hookwolf pounced at Delsin in his heavy form. Delsin jumped above him, and began rising into the air. Hookwolf wondered if he was running away, but then he noticed what looked to be a comet falling in his direction.

When his team saw Delsin shooting up in the air, they all yelled, "run!"

Fetch formed a light shield in front of the capes, and He Who Dwells summoned harmonious angels to extend their hands to each capes. The Undersiders and Travellers were the first to accept the offer. Once the rest saw that He Who Dwells was simply dropping them to the next building rooftop over, the other capes followed instruction.

Delsin's body shot down to the earth like a molten bullet. The floors sprouted fires as he fell, and his body smashed directly into Hookwolf's encased body.

XXX

The other capes watched the building collapse into rubble. Pieces dropped into the lake leaving only a cloud of debris in its wake. "Good riddance," Skidmark said spitting in their direction.

Fetch and He Who Dwells glared at him. Before they could attack, the White Rabbit said, "there."

A cocoon of metal stood at the center of where the impact hit. It was a metal sphere seemingly untouched by the blast. As the dust settled and a doorway from the cocoon could be seen, the figure of Hookwolf stabbing Delsin in the stomach was seen by everyone.

Hookwolf's body gradually shedded off his armor pieces, proclaiming victory.

His teammates nearly pounced at him, but Tattletale stopped them. "He's alive. His power has a safety core, and as long as his heart is alive, he isn't dead." She wanted to comment more about all of their own powers, but she figured they'd want to keep that a secret. The last thing she wanted was for the Travellers, Undersiders, and Twin Eagles to get dragged into a free-for all brawl with the other capes.

Purity and He Who Dwells flew down towards them. Hookwolf grinned underneath his mask, and Purity reluctantly took him by the hand to carry him to the rest of the capes. He Who Dwells was careful, he carried an unconscious Delsin in his arms, and flew slowly to the other rooftop as he watched Delsin's body heal itself.

Returning to the capes, the rest of Delsin's team converged around him. Before they could even take a moment to inspect Delsin's injury, Hookwolf ordered, "leave this city."

"Fuck you," Fetch said. Her arms lit up, and this time, all the other capes [including the Undersiders and Travellers] prepared their own powers to turn against her.

The White Rabbit held Fetch back. She said, "the agreement was that we'd leave the meeting, and so we will. If you want us out of the city, you'll have to drive us out another time."

"That'll be a treat," Skidmark said, licking his lips. "Just you wait lil girl, we'll make you bastards pay for what yuz to my guys."

He Who Dwells glared at Hookwolf. Eugene didn't have his heavy armor this time, only holographic wings extending from behind his sweatshirt. It gave the boy a slight angelic look to him. Eugene looked over to Faultline's crew and said, "we'll give you the vials and everything we found with them, if you promise not to do anything he says."

Faultline's eyes widened. Hookwolf sneered at the boy but Coil raised his hand up to remind him that they were allowed to negotiate in front of them.

Faultline said, "you'd divide us all further, just to spite him?"

Eugene looked over to White Rabbit. She shook her head, 'no.' He answered, "the way I see it, if we're divided, we're gonna lose anyway. Might as well screw him over more if we're all screwed over anyway."

"Get out," Hookwolf yelled.

Eugene, Fetch, and Celia didn't bother arguing. They stared at him for a full minute before turning their backs on him. Before they flew out on Eugene's angels, Faultline called out to them.

"Deal." She said to them.

After a momentary silence, Eugene created more angels to carry them off the rooftop. The way Faultline saw it, fighting the S9 was too risky to begin with, and she was already hesitant on whether Coil would pay enough for their service. At least in this scenario, they'd have the option to stay out of trouble while getting vital information they needed.

Both teams flew off, leaving the rest of the capes more fractured than before.


End file.
